The three Giro d’Italia wild card places have been awarded to Italian ProTeams Bardiani CSF Faizanè, Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli and Eolo-Kometa, completing the roster of 22 teams for this year’s Corsa Rosa.
Race organiser RCS Sport was able to award three wild card places after Arkea-Samsic opted to give up their automatic invitation to focus on the 2022 Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, with the goal to secure a place in the 2023 WorldTour.
Arkea-Samsic obtained their automatic invitation as second best ranked ProTeam of 2021. Alpecin-Fenix, who was best-ranked, have confirmed they will ride the Giro d’Italia, with Mathieu van der Poel on the team’s roster, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, as he continues his recovery from a back injury.
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The current 18 WorldTour teams will all ride the Giro d’Italia, with leading riders expected to include Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma), Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Tom Pidcock and Tao Geogheghan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl).
The 105th edition of the Giro d’Italia will start on Friday, May 6, in Budapest, Hungary and ends on Sunday, May 29 in Verona. The Friday start of the Italian Grand Tour provides an extra rest day and transfer from Hungary to Italy.
The presence of Bardiani CSF Faizanè, Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli and Eolo-Kometa is a boost for Italian cycling in the absence of an Italian WorldTour team.
Bardiani CSF have become a development team for many Italian young riders, while Eolo-Kometa won the stage to Monte Zoncolan in the 2021 Giro d’Italia with Lorenzo Fortunato. Gianni Savio’s new-look Drone Hopper also has a number of Italian riders and has ridden the Giro d’Italia almost uninterruptedly for the last 25 years.
Cyclingnews will have live coverage of every stage of the Giro d’Italia with our reports on the race providing daily news, interviews and analysis.
